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Dr Panagiotis Pentaris

Staff details

Dr Panagiotis Pentaris

Position

Director of Research and Research Studies, Deputy Head of STaCS Departmentm Academic Lead for Research, Ethics & Compliance

Department

Social, Therapeutic and Community Studies

Email

Panagiotis.Pentaris (@gold.ac.uk)

Goldsmiths Research Centres/Groups

thanatology, loss and grief, EDI, religion, social policy and justice, research and ethics, transhumanism

I have been researching and publishing about death, dying and bereavement for over 14 years, with a particular focus on the socio-political conceptions and contestations of death, as well as the intersections of religion, faith and non-belief with death and dying. My work has a wider scope and is underpinned by social work, as well as social policy foundations. I have also been researching LGBTQIA+ identities and queer necropolitics for over five years, lending practices to education and end of life care, while developing EDI strategies for Higher Education.

My work in social work has extended to commissioned work by the Government which scrutinised key areas of social work curricula, driving current changes in the field. I am an active Board member on global organisations like the ASDS, leading initiatives for the improvements in the above mentioned areas.

Academic qualifications

  • BSc Social Work 2008
  • PGCE Military Social Work 2009
  • MSW Social Work, Death and Multiculturalism 2011
  • PGDiploma Medical Psychology and Psychotherapy 2012
  • PGCE Management of Learning and Teaching in HE 2014
  • PhD, Social Policy, Thanatology, Religious Studies and Social Work 2015
  • PGDiploma Editing and Proofreading English Language 2017

Research interests

My research area of concern is thanatology, and particularly death, dying, grief and bereavement, while my research activity spans across various disciplinary and theoretical perspectives. I have, in the last five years, completed projects on the intersectionality of religion, non-religion and dying and death; death and dying in COVID-19; COVID-19 and pandemic grief; assisted suicide and assisted dying in public policy and public opinion; the role of religion and faith in social work practice; the role of religion and faith in end of life care; the representations of death and dying in animated films, and the tensions with the sociology of childhood; LGBTQ identities and social rights; the governance of dying in contemporary societies; ageing and professional practice; to name a few. My most recent monograph (due for release in November 2021) is titled Dying in a Transhumanist and Posthuman Society and a volume I recently editied, and wrote many segments of it, is titled Death, Grief and Loss in the Context of COVID-19; both published by Routledge.
My work is primarily collaborative, and I have linked my interests with colleagues – scholars and practitioners – from various fields like social work, sociology, social policy, psychology, history, music, comparative literature, nursing, counselling, politics and astronomy. I have developed, and continue to do so, a large national and international network, inclusive of individuals, groups and organisations/institutions. An example of my initiative in developing such links stems from the foundation of the Palliative Professionals Network in Cyprus, in 2018. Another example includes the forming of the International Death Scholars Network – ASDS Ambassadors – which I am chairing, on behalf of the Association for the Study of Death and Society (ASDS).

Featured publications

Publications and research outputs

Book

Edited Book

Edited Journal

Book Section

Article

Conference or Workshop Item

Report

Thesis

Director of Research and Research Studies - MA Social Work Convenor

I am available to accept PhD students interested in death studies, (non)religion, disaster and comparative social work, or social justice issues.